Aaron Finch, the captain, announced that tall Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who had been added to the 15-person squad to replace the injured Josh Inglis, would not be playing against New Zealand in the opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 on Saturday. Finch added that he had taken the "risk" of using only one wicketkeeper in the championship match.
Inglis, Australia's backup wicketkeeper, was replaced by Green in the 15-man team when Inglis suffered an unexpected injury while playing golf. Only Matthew Wade, a specialist wicketkeeper, will be the reigning champions' wicketkeeper during the competition.
When asked if Cameron Green will start the first Super 12 game against New Zealand right away, Finch responded that he didn't think so.
"I don't believe so, no. Green just got here from Perth this morning. He has arrived as backup (for Inglis). We've taken a chance by forgoing the extra keeper, which obviously carried some risk, but we believe Cam (Cameron Green) provides our squad a little bit more balance "Finch stated during the Friday press conference prior to the game.
Wade had a very strong track record of not being injured, according to Finch, which was the reasoning behind not including a backup wicketkeeper in the squad.
Touch wood, Matt Wade is incredibly tough. We ran the statistics, and I believe there is a 0.5% probability that a keeper would be declared ineligible on the day of the game based on something that has occurred to him in T20 cricket in the past. We believe there would be ample time if a pre-game incident prevented him from competing in the tournament, such as an injury sustained during practise.
"That is the cause. It's undoubtedly a danger, but one we're probably more willing to accept than protecting a fast bowler, a batsman, and an all-rounder. We consider that to be a pretty important skill set, "Finch added.